government spending in general, seems mysterious in the third quarter. then it disappears in the 40 quarter. if you average those two, ditto with inventory. acouple lakes and decumulation. if you average those two, it looks like it's been looking like a sort of a 2% minus growth trajectory, which is, you know, fa from zero but not very good. >> what do you think? >> i agree with alan. i think we are growing at around 2% and the fourth quarter will turn out to have been an outliar with a minus 0.1%. i personally think as the year goes on, 2013, and we get towards the end, you're going to begin to pass out of this four to five-year period where the dominant force was the head winds triggered by 2008 and we're going to move into a somewhat better period of growth. i think once we turn the corner that way, the risks may be on the upside. >> okay. meanwhile, throughout all of this and this uncertainty, the markets have been on a tear. so much money moving into equitys and you're seeing even the small investor begin to return to the market. so doeshis jive in